The Promising
by april03
Summary: What would happen if the gang kicked chloe from the group? And how would they react when she came back later as a whole new chloe? My first fanfic. pleease read! much better than it sounds!
1. Chapter 1

**(One month ago in the safe house)**

CPOV

I was in the living room watching TV, when Derek, Simon, Tori, and Andrew all walked in with grim looks on their faces.

"Hey guys, what's up?", I said.

"We have something important to tell you" said Andrew while he motioned for the others to take a seat. I looked at Derek. He was my boyfriend, so he would at least give me a clue to what the matter is. The problem was, that he quickly looked away. He looked like he was in so much pain. Did I do something wrong?

"Um ok, is something wrong?" I said hoping I didn't screw anything up again.

"No, um yes. Yes, something is very wrong.", he said. Uh oh. This can't be good.

"L-like what?" I said. Then he looked like he didn't know what to say.

"Well, we've made a group decision that you should leave.", he said really quietly.

Hold up. _What_ is going _on? _All of a sudden I have to leave?" W-what do you mean I should l-leave?"

"Well, we mean you should leave the safe house. For good." He said.

"W-w-why?"

"Well, the kids and I have taken into account how you constantly hold us back and is always the weakest link in the group. We don't think you should be with us if you're going to slow us down every time we have an emergency." He said without emotion. I looked at Simon and Tori. They nodded in agreement though they didn't look too happy about it. By now tears were filling up in my eyes. Then I looked at Derek.

"Is that what you think too? D-do you agree with them?" I asked. Curse my stupid stutter. He solemnly nodded in agreement. Then he looked like he was about to cry, too. Then I stood up with tears rolling down my cheeks.

"W-well if you all want me to go, I just l-l-leave then!" I said in between sobs. Andrew nodded.

"We knew you wouldn't take this news lightly. I'll give you one hour to pack. You're leaving tonight." He said, still with no emotions.

I ran to my room and slammed the door. After about 15 minutes of crying to myself, I calmed down enough to start packing. When I was done, I grabbed my bags and slowly walked down the stairs. This was a joke. It had to be. But when I got downstairs, and saw how everyone looked, I knew it wasn't a joke. The only one who seemed to hate this was Derek. He looked deeply depressed , but he made no move to stop me when I reached the door. Before I stepped out, I looked back at everyone.

"G-good bye" I said. My vision was starting to get blurry again. Everyone murmured their goodbyes and Derek made a small chocking noise. I walked slowly to the edge of the driveway, and I looked back at them and the house. They just stared back as one tear rolled down my face. I guess this is it, then. I started walking down the sidewalk as I heard the front door of the safe house close.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do NOT own darkest powers!**

**(continuation of flashback)**

I walked about two miles from the safe house. Far enough from it not to lead anyone there, but close enough for Derek to track me if the whole group suddenly decides to take me back in. I reluctantly settled down in an alley besides an abandoned building.

Alleys still gave me the chills ever since that incident with those girls when they almost cut my face up. But I didn't really have a choice here.

I shouldn't have to be here. I shouldn't have to suffer the streets alone. Did any of the others even take into account that they just put me into terrible danger throwing me to the streets? Including a half-million reward on my head?

They make me soo frustrated. Even Derek didn't do anything. He didn't even care that I was kicked out! I thought he loved me! I thought I was his mate! How could he do this to me! I never want to see his face again.

By now I was silently sobbing to myself again. But this time, they were tears of anger. They think I'm weak? They want me to be stronger? Fine. I'll show them how tough I could really be. I'll show them that I can take care of myself.

I ran to the 24-hour convenience store across the street. I'm gonna have to change my look if I want to blend in. I ran through the aisles and the first placed I stopped was in the hair color section. This horrible black hair dye that Derek picked does nothing for me and brings more attention to me rather than take it away.

I picked up the red hair dye. _Now this is more like it._

I walked to the cashier at the front, who was a teenager a little older than me that looked bored out of his mind. After I bought the dye, I asked if there was a bathroom in the store.

"It's around back.", he said gloomily.

I quickly went to the back of the store. There was a little family bathroom with one toilet and one sink and mirror.

I quickly shut the door and locked it, and started to open the box of dye. I knew how to dye my hair by now, so I didn't need to read the instructions.

Before I started, I looked into the mirror. _I'll show them how tough I can really be._ Then I resumed applying the hair dye.

**Sorry! I know this chapter was really short, I just had to finish the flashback! I'll try to make them longer now. Please R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**One month later!**

GeneralPOV

Chloe was totally different now! In that one month she learned the hard way, how to survive on the streets. Her stutter was now gone.

She looked different, too! She had red hair that made her look awesome, and she was now wearing green colored contacts to further disguise herself. She walked around with her one oversized sweat-shirt(she can keep her hood down, now.), and sunglasses to hide her face. Also, she was a little bit taller(which made her very happy!).

She's also been able to control her powers. She no longer raises things in her sleep, and she can now control creatures as big as humans without having to concentrate that much.

She was new and improved! She could take care of herself, now.

The only thing she couldn't handle, was the horrible truth. She was on her own, now. No matter how many times she tried to forget them, they kicked her out. Her life was in her own hands. What if the Edison group catches her in the night? She would have nobody to save her. This fact always sent chills up her spine.

CPOV

I was settled in the woods, tonight. "_I'm not afraid of the woods, anymore_", I repeatedly thought to myself.

I put all of my stuff down and turned on a small travel lantern I bought a few days ago. I zipped open my backpack and pulled out a pack of crackers and a granola bar. This was my dinner, tonight.

I sat down by the lantern, and was about to open the crackers, when I heard the snap of a twig.

I immediately stood up, ready to run if I had to. I scanned the trees around my clearing. Nothing was there.

"_Maybe it was just my imagination."_, I thought to myself. Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders from behind.

I let out a yelp, and jumped about a foot into the air. I turned around and almost cried at who I saw.

"Hey, cutie! You're a little jumpy, aren't ya?", said Liam. Ramon was standing right behind him with a wild grin on his face.

"How do you know who I am?", I asked, hoping my disguise would actually work for me.

"Sweetie, no matter how many times you die your hair, you'll still smell the same to me.

_Oh snap._ How was I about to get out of this one?

"Where's your boyfriend? You wouldn't be all alone without him, would ya? We just need to have a word with him. We didn't really like what he did to us last time we met.", said Ramon.

Oh, no. He was talking about _him._ The guy whose name shall never escape my lips again. The guy who broke my heart.

"Yeah. I also didn't enjoy what you did to my leg, either.", Liam said with a growl.

Oh, yeah. I forgot that I stabbed Liam in the leg last time. He looked completely healed, now. I guess that's just what wolf genes can do to you.

_Ok Chloe, think. How would one escape this situation?_ I suddenly ran to the edge of the trees, but the wolves were too quick for me. They caught up to me, and quickly pinned me to the side of a tree.

"Woah, woah, woah! Before you go running off, we just need to know where your boyfriend is.", said Ramon. His playful smile was gone, now.

"L-l-look. He's not my b-boyfriend and I-I don't know where he is." I said with as much courage as I could muster. Curse my stupid stutter! Why did it come back?

"He's not your boyfriend? Ha! That's ironic. He was soo protective of you when we saw you last.", said Liam, with a bark of laughter.

By now, I was angry that I was having to have a conversation that had to do with _him._

"If you want him so much, then look for him yourself! I'm not helping you, so get away from me, you losers!" I shouted. Then, I bit Liam's arm until he let go of me, and took off running.

Liam and Ramon stayed behind for a while, stunned at what I just said. Then, they came back around and started chasing me.

I had a pretty good headstart. I could hear the shouts of Liam and Ramon behind me. I ran in many directions and turned a lot of times. I kept running until I couldn't hear them behind me anymore and when I couldn't run anymore. I think I lost them.

I was so tired I had to sit down, but I sat in some bushes so nobody could see me if anyone walked by. Then, a light turned on.

_Where are those lights coming from? _I sat there silently. Waiting to hear a sound of some sort. I heard footsteps, and they were coming my way.

I quickly tried to stand up but my jacket got caught on one of the bush branches. _Oh snap!_ I thought as the footsteps got closer.

I desperately pulled myself free, and was about to walk away, when a beam from a flashlight found my back.

"Hey! Come back!" said a male voice, as his hand caught my shoulder. The hand turned me around to face him, and I gasped when I saw who it was.

_Simon was standing less than two feet away from me._

**I hoped you guys liked this chapter! I made it longer this time! R&R! **


	4. Chapter 4

CPOV

Oh. My. Gosh! What was Simon doing here? I spent all these days trying to forget him and the others, too!

Simon was staring at me, but he didn't seem to recognize me. "I mean, hi! Who are you and what are you doing here in the woods?", he said nervously. By now my mouth was hanging open.

I quickly shut it. I'm going to have to change my voice, too. I cleared my throat to make my voice sound deeper.

"Um, my name is…..Sarah.", I said. _Sarah? Really? Is that the best I can come up with? _I mentally kicked myself.

"Well, hi Sarah! My name's Simon! What excactly are you doing outside of my house?", he asked me, falling for my lie.

"House? What house?" , I said. Oh snap! He's gotta be kidding me. Those lights were coming from the _safe house?_

He had an oops-I-said-too-much look on his face."Uh, yeah, well…my house is right there, as you can see.", he said seeing no way around what he said. "Are you lost, or something? Do you need some place to stay?", he asked, genuinely concerned.

Then I realized that I left all of my stuff, including my money, at that clearing. And I have no idea how to find my way back there, and I don't think I should, considering Ramon and Liam might be there waiting up for me.

So, on second thought, "Yeah. If that's alright with you. I'm most definitely lost.", I said, losing as much dignity as I had.

"Ok, sure! Stay here for a second. I'll be right back.", he said quickly. Then, he ran back into the safe house.

What would he be doing in there? Oh, yeah. They have to be extra cautious when it comes to strangers. So, I'm assuming he's checking with the others to see if I can come in.

I waited there for a few seconds, and looked around. The safe house looks the same as always. I mean, it's only been a month. Simon, looks the same, too. But, for some reason, his eyes always look sad. I wonder what that's all about.

But wait a minute._ If I didn't want to be here, wouldn't this be a great opportunity to run off?_ No, I'll stay this time. I want to see if anything has changed while I was gone. I highly doubt it, but on the inside, I was super curious! I wanted to see if _he_ cared at all that I left.

Simon came back in a flash, and said, "Yeah, the others say you can come in!" He walked over to me took my arm and led me towards the house. "Wait. First I want to know, are you…_a super?_", he whispered to me. What does he mean by that?_ Oh, yeah. He means supernatural._

"Oh, you mean supernatural? Um ….yeah! Yes, of course I am!" I said catching even myself by surprise.

"Really? That's great! I am, too! And so are the others! Wow, Sarah, you'll fit right in!", he said excitedly while leading the way inside the house.

Everything I passed was the same, just as I thought. But I tried _really_ hard to suppress my surprise when I entered the living room. Everyone else was sitting on the couches and the chairs.

"Hey everyone! Look who I found in the backyard! And she says she's a supernatural, too!", he said with a big smile.

I scanned everyone's faces. They all looked curious and slightly amused, but they also had that sadness in their eyes that Simon had. I couldn't even bear to look at Derek for more than a second. But, wait…is that a fourth face I see?

Right next to Derek was a girl. She was a new supernatural, I suppose. She looked a little older than me. She had long, dark hair and bright green eyes that looked even more abnormal than Derek's. And she was _gorgeous. _I don't even think she was wearing makeup, but she looked like she came from the cover of a magazine. She looked like she's never even _seen_ a zit. And the worst part was, the way she was sitting next to Derek on the couch.

She was sitting really close to him and was clinging to one of his arms for dear life. She never took her eyes off me, and her smile quickly faded into a frown. _What's up with her? I didn't do anything! And what does she think she's doing sitting next to Derek like that?_

After a few awkward moments, Andrew cleared his throat.

"Let's start with introductions, shall we? Hello, my name is Andrew. I'm the adult in charge, here.", he said then he gestured for Tori.

"Hey, I'm Victoria. But call me Tori. Seriously." , she said. Then, she looked at Derek.

"Hi, I'm Derek.", he said gruffly. And that was it, for him. He didn't even look at me, yet. He just stared at the floor.

Suddenly, the girl next to him plastered on a smile. " Hello, I'm Rachel!", she said with a perfect British accent. _I mean, seriously? She's pretty _and_ British? How am I supposed to compete with that?_

After that everybody, including Derek, stared at me. Derek had the weirdest look on his face, too. What was that about?

I cleared my throat to make my voice deeper again. " Hi everyone. I'm Sarah.", I said with a little bit of confidence. Speaking in front of crowds were never really my thing.

"What's your power, Sarah?" , Andrew said.

"Oh, I'm a necromancer.", I said, without even thinking. _Oh snap. Couldn't I at least have made up a power for me to have? They'll see through me for sure, now._

But nobody did. They were all actually surprised at first, then an even deeper sadness entered their eyes, except Rachel's. Ok, what did I do now?

Then, all of a sudden everybody stood up at the same time. "Well, it's nice to meet you, sarah! But, we really should be getting into bed, now.", he said.

Everybody left, probably to go to their rooms. I started to follow them, but then I was stopped by Andrew.

" I'm sorry to say this, but we have no more room left for you upstairs. You're going to have to sleep on the couch tonight.", he said with an apologetic look on his face.

"Oh! That's all right, I guess.", I said. Now, I was slightly sad. Rachel_ took_ my _bed_! It's like they're using her to replace me! Even Derek's using her to replace me! How cruel!

Andrew took a quilt and a pillow, from a basket in the corner, and handed them to me.

"Well, good night!", he said nervously as I sat on the couch. He turned off the light as he left.

I lied there in the darkness for a few minutes. _There's no way I'm going to fall asleep._ I had a _really _long night. This is going to be an…._interesting_ few days.

But as I thought things through, I guess I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake the next morning.


	5. Chapter 5

CPOV

I quickly sat up and practically jumped off of the couch.

"Woah,what? Where am I? Where's the fire?", I said still half asleep.

"Hey, it's ok! There's no fire! Calm down!", Simon said, a little surprised. Then he said, "I woke you up to tell you that breakfast is ready."

Then, I remembered that I was back in the safe house. _Great._

Simon led me to the kitchen. Everyone else was already sitting around the table. It was toast, eggs, and bacon for breakfast.

Funny. Nobody cooked breakfast when I was here. We always had something along the lines of pop-tarts and eggo toaster waffles for breakfast. Why the sudden change?

"Wow, Rachel! This breakfast you made for us is _really good._", said Andrew. Oh, now I see the difference.

"Well, thank you ! I used to cook all the time!", Rachel said while flashing her winning smile. Ok, now I was _really_ disgusted. She's exactly the type of girl who would intimidate me at school. That's one of the reasons I didn't miss going to school. And she was sitting next to Derek _again._

I sat down in the last empty chair at the head of the table. I loaded my plate with five pieces of toast and a mountain of eggs and bacon. I was _really_ hungry, because I haven't eaten a decent meal in ages.

After I killed my third piece of toast and have almost finished all of my bacon, I realized everybody was silent. I lifted my head. Everybody was staring at me.

"Wow, you must have been really hungry.", Rachel giggled. Suddenly, I felt my cheeks get all red.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, I haven't had bacon and eggs in a long time.", I said nervously. Everyone seemed satisfied by my answer and continued eating.

"So, Sarah. Considering that you're a supernatural, I was wondering if you wanted to stay here at the safe house with us.", Andrew said.

This is where my good acting skills come in. "Safe house? What do you mean by safe house?", I asked, pretending to be confused.

"Well, this is a house for supernaturals that are hiding away from the Edison group. The Edison group are the people who gave you your powers.", he said.

"Well, if they gave us our powers, why are we hiding from them?", I asked.

"You see, we supernaturals are considered failed experiments. And in order to get rid of us failures, they are being sent out to find us and kill us.", he said grimly.

"Edison group? Yeah, I think I've heard of them. I heard that they're _horrible_ people to deal with.", I said.

"They are. You and Rachel are newcomers, but Derek, Simon, and Tori are still being chased down as we speak. There was also another girl with them, but that's another story.", he said as he noticed the sadness in the others' eyes coming back.

"What happened to the other girl?", I asked, curious as to how he'll explain that one.

"Like I said, that's a long and unnecessary story.", he said nervously.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad I stumbled upon you guys, because then I guess I'd be in serious trouble. I'll definitely stay with you guys.", I said.

"You most certainly _are_ lucky to have found us. But if you don't mind, I'll be in the study. I have a bit of work to do.", he said while getting up from his seat. He put his dishes in the sink and quickly walked out of the kitchen.

That just left the rest of us sitting at the table awkwardly. Derek was giving me a weird look again. What's his problem?

Simon, however, tried to start up some conversation. "So, Sarah, I bet you're wondering what our powers are. I'm a sorcerer.", he said.

Then, Tori said, "Do you always wear your sunglasses all day? Do you wear them just to make you look cool? Because if you do, that's just lame.", she said. Wait a minute. I'm still wearing my sunglasses? No wonder it's so dark in here. Here comes another blush.

"Um... I don't usually wear them all day.", I said. But still, I made no move to take them off.

"Hmph.", was all she said.

" Hey, Sarah! Do you want to come with us to the backyard so we can show you our powers?", he said, with hope in his eyes.

I cleared my throat." Um, sure! That would be great!", I said with fake enthusiasm. Everyone else didn't share my enthusiasm, but they agreed to come with us, since there was nothing else to do in this house.

I was already outside, before I realized Simon and Derek were no longer behind me. _Where'd they go?_

DPOV

Simon was about to follow the girls outside, before I stopped him with my arm.

"Woah, dude. What's wrong?", he said.

"Don't you think there's something weird about Sarah?", I said, hoping he would understand.

"No. I actually think she's pretty cute.", he smiled. His eyes got distant. Then, he gave his head a small shake and looked back at me. "Why? Did she do something wrong?", he asked, confused.

"Well…no. But she…you know what? Nevermind.", there's no way Simon would understand that Sarah reminded me _a lot_ of Chloe.

"Uh, sure, ok. You've been acting weird since Sarah came. Are you sure you're alright? You can tell me anything. You know that right?", Simon said, concerned.

"No, nevermind. I…..forgot what I was going to say.", I lied.

"Sure. Whatever,dude. I'm going outside with Sarah. You want to come?", he asked me. But I could tell he wasn't paying attention. His eyes were distant again, as he left.

I sat back down in an empty chair. There's something _odd_ about Sarah. First of all, she smells almost _exactly _like Chloe. But , who knows, that one might just be my imagination.

Also, she clears her throat before she talks, and when she _does_ talk, it's like she already knows the answers to her own questions. It's like she's just saying things for show. Also, her hair reeks of dye, but that shouldn't mean anything.

But she isn't Chloe. She can't be. Chloe's shorter, and stutters a lot. Also, she has black hair and beautiful blue eyes. Not that I know what color Sarah's eyes are. She always wears those sunglasses all the time.

Wow, I miss Chloe _so much. _I can't stop thinking about her. She doesn't even know that I was the only one who actually _cared_ that she left. But she's long gone now. Probably in danger somewhere and it's my fault.

Rachel's not making things better either. She came two days after Chloe left and as soon as she saw me, she started flirting with me and telling me to forget about Chloe. I don't really trust her that well, but I've been hanging around her for a while because she's been keeping my mind off things. Including Chloe. Which is good, because Chloe's never coming back. 

But…..Sarah and Chloe are so _similar_. I don't know why, but I'm strangely attracted to Sarah, which is impossible, because I love Chloe. And I'm not so happy that Simon has a little crush on Sarah, either. Maybe it's just because she reminds me of Chloe. Yeah, that's it. I can't _really_ like Sarah. That would just be ridiculous.

**Hope you guys liked it! Will there be a love triangle, perhaps? Maybe. I don't know yet. Let me know your opinions! R&R! ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

CPOV

I awkwardly shifted my weight as I waited for Simon and Derek to come outside. Rachel stood at the far side of the yard glaring at me, and Tori was standing by the fence, filing her nails indifferently.

All of a sudden, Simon came running out. "Where's Derek?", I asked. I could've sworn he was following behind us.

"He's…..not in the mood to come out right now.", he said. Why wouldn't Derek come outside? Hmm…..I guess it _would _be hard to demonstrate, him being a werewolf. Oh well.

"Okay! Let's get started! I'll go first.", said Simon. "I'm a sorcerer, and here's one of things I can do."

Simon put his hand up, and a lawn chair started to float about three feet in the air. Simon looked at me for a moment. _Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be surprised!_

"Wow! That's awesome! I've never seen anything like that before!", I said with a whole lot of enthusiasm. Simon grinned at me as he put the chair back down on the ground.

Then Tori said, "Enough of that beginner stuff! I'm a witch and I'll show how I use my powers the _real_ way." I backed away a little bit. I've experienced a few of Tori's magical mistakes before.

She walked in the middle of the yard and held both of her arms in front of her as a bright blue ball of energy shot out of her hands and blew a hole straight through the middle of a tree trunk.

"How's _that_ ?", she said, with a lot of pride as she strutted back to the fence.

"That. Is. _Amazing!_ I can't believe what I'm seeing!", I said with a fake smile. Then, there was only one person left. We all looked towards Rachel.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is it my turn?", she said while batting her eyes. "Well then, watch this!"

She walked to a tree with perfect fluidity and gave it a little push. It fell to the ground knocking over another one on its way.

My jaw was hanging open, and I'm pretty sure my eyes were wide in shock. I didn't even _have_ to pretend to be surprised, then.

Rachel put her hand over her mouth. "Oops! I didn't mean to push _that _hard.", she giggled. But she looked at me like that's _exactly_ what she meant to do. She was trying to show me just _how_ strong she was.

"I should probably check on Derek. It's not like him to miss a little trip to the outdoors.", she said with a concerned expression. Then she walked into the house.

Suddenly, I felt sick in my stomach. The idea of her "comforting" Derek didn't put a great image in my head.

"So, Sarah. Do you want to show us what _you_ can do? I would love to see how strong your powers are!", Simon said, almost flirtaciously. Beside him, Tori looked expectantly at me.

_Oh boy, I'ts _my_ turn._


	7. Chapter 7

CPOV

I nervously walked to the middle of the yard. _You can do this Chloe. Your powers are almost perfect!_

I put my hand on my chest, where my necklace was under my sweatshirt, and closed my eyes.

I called out to a soul, any soul, and waited. Then, I started to hear footsteps.

I opened my eyes to see an enormous moose with three bullet holes in its side, walking towards me. Woah. I never raised anything _this_ big before.

_Don't panic Chloe. You can control this one just like you can control the other ones._ I peeked at Simon and Tori. Simon looked amazed, and Tori looked disgusted and slightly surprised.

I focused again on the moose, and whispered, " Walk in a circle." Surely enough, it did exactly what I said, and walked around me in a small circle.

By then, I've had enough. I whispered, "Go back to where you came from.", and it slowly walked away.

I closed my eyes and waited a few seconds until it got far enough away in the woods, and released it from its body.

I hesitantly turned towards Simon and Tori. Now, Simon was in awe, and Tori's jaw was hanging open.

"That was freaking awesome!", Simon shouted. "I can't wait to tell Derek about this!", he said while running into the house with Tori following from behind. Just then, I saw a movement from the corner of my eye.

I looked up into a second story window, just as Derek swung the curtain closed. _Maybe, _I thought, _he already knows._

I walked inside, and found Andrew reading the newspaper in the kitchen. He held it in front of his face in a way that I could only see the front page.

There was a gigantic school picture of me on the front page. Again. But this time, it was the biggest story. The headlines wrote, 'PRIZE MONEY BEING INCREASED TO ONE MILLION FOR THE RETURN OF CHLOE SAUNDERS!( continues on page 3b!)'

Wow. My dad must be driven crazy by now for losing both of his family members. Tears sprang into my eyes and a few tears were dragging down my face.

I pushed my sunglasses up, wiped my eyes, and put them back on again. I even sniffled.

Andrew seemed to hear this, and he closed the newspaper, finally noticing that I was standing right in front of him. I noticed that he was actually reading page 3b, when he closed the paper. He actually looked a little annoyed at me.

"Oh, Sarah it's you. Is there something I can help you with?", he said, only looking slightly concerned.

"W-who's that?", I said shakily as I pointed to my picture on the front page. Wonder what he's got to say about that now.

He looked at the picture, and an evil, knowing smile dominated his face. But instead, he just said, "Oh I don't know. Just some poor teenager probably dead somewhere.", he said, with the smirk still on his face.

_Why is Andrew acting like this?_


	8. Chapter 8

CPOV

I slowly backed out of the kitchen, and was about to bolt, when I ran straight into someone and my sunglasses fell off.

I quickly bent down to get them, and when I looked up, I saw Derek staring at me with a curious look on his face.

His gaze was so intense, that I couldn't look away. "I-I-I'm s-so sorry." I whispered, taking a mental note that I just stuttered again.

He didn't say anything, though. He just kept looking at me.

After a few moments, he started to back away, mouthing something that I assumed was "green eyes". Then, he turned around and walked back up the stairs.

I stood there for a moment. _What just happened?_ I quickly put my sunglasses back on.

That was the first time I was alone, face-to-face with Derek, since I left the safe house. It was pretty unsettling to realize how easily I got lost in his gaze.

But, wow! His eyes are more piercing and beautiful than I remember. But they were so filled with pain for some reason.

By now, my hands were shaking so badly, I had to stuff them in my sweatshirt pockets. It's been quite a rough morning.

I decided to wander the halls in search of something to do, since I was bored.

I walked up the stairs, and stopped at the room where I used to stay in with Tori. I tiptoed closer, and put my ear to the closed door.

All I heard was Rachel's voice. Even though I couldn't make out what she was saying, it must've been funny because soon, both she and Tori started laughing out loud.

Hmph. I guess, even Tori's enjoying the new room arrangement.

I continued down the hall. Simon and Derek's room door was also closed.

I kept walking until I reached the library. It wasn't big, but it still kept a lot of books in it.

I spent a few minutes looking through the shelves, until I stopped at a book called The Power of Necromancy.

I took the book off the shelf and blew some dust off of the cover. It was a really old book that looked like all of the pages were about to fall out of its bindings, any minute. I took it with me and sat on one of the many couches in the library.

I opened the book in my lap and flipped through the pages.

This book is seriously creepy. Each page held a new disturbing picture and had paragraphs full of horrible information.

I was so interested in the book; I didn't even notice that Simon had entered the room.

"Hey, Sarah! What book are you reading?" he said. I was so surprised; I dropped the book on the floor. It made a loud "thud" noise.

"Um, nothing! Just some random book." I said with a really high-pitched voice. Talk about voice cracks.

"Oh. Ok, then. How are you liking your stay here at the safe house?" he said as he plopped himself on the couch next to me.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, it's a little…much to take in.", I said.

He laughed. "Yeah. I guess it would be a little overwhelming on your first day here.", he said.

Then, he scooted closer to me and looked into my eyes. His expression was more serious now.

"So, listen. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go on a walk or something. It would really make you feel better." he said, with hope in his eyes.

I must've looked a little hesitant, because he quickly said, "if you say no, I'll just ask you again. Besides, I hear I'm really good at cheering people up." he said with a smile. How could I say no to that?

"Sure, I'll go with you." I laughed. Who knows, it might actually take my mind off of Derek's green eyes.


	9. AN

Hey guys! I just wanted to say that I won't be able to continue this story until late June. I have to focus on exams and then I'm going straight on vacation, so. There won't be any new chapters until the summer. So, I hope you guys are liking the story so far and stay tuned for later!

Read on!,

April 03 ;)


	10. Chapter 10

CPOV

Lunch was both awkward and Interesting. Everyone just made sandwiches for themselves. After ten minutes of watching Tori glare at Simon, and Rachel glare at Derek, while both Derek and Simon stared at me, I was done. I stood up and cleared my throat.

"I'm gonna go to the restroom.", I said quietly with my slightly-deeper voice. Then I quickly walked out of the room. I didn't really have to go to the bathroom, I just had to get away from the many silent staring contests happening at the table.

Actually, I just went out to the backyard. I sat on the back porch steps to think. Why did I think going on this walk was a good idea? Liam and Ramon could be waiting out there for just one little scent of me. This walk would bring me more damage than anything.

I started scanning what I could see of the forest. Everything was eerily silent. The only sound was of the wind blowing. _Just stay on guard, Chloe. Never let your guard down._ All of a sudden a hand came down on my shoulder.

I jumped up and turned around ready to fight if I have to. When I saw it was just Simon, I came back to my senses.

"Chill out, it's just me.", Simon said, looking surprised. "Oh. Sorry. Uh, I….guess we can start our walk now, right?", I said, eager to lighten the mood. "Um, yeah! I ran into Andrew on the way here, actually. He says we could only walk if I promised to be back by dinner.", he said happily.

"Dinner? Wow, Andrew must be really lenient If he would let us out of the house for more than a few hours. Isn't he supposed to be worried about keeping us from danger or something?", I asked.

"Hmmm. I never thought of it that way. I guess you're right. It _is_ strange of Andrew to go through with this…", he was thoughtful for about 30 seconds, then he remembered I was standing next to him, and he completely forgot about it.

"So let's do this thing shall we?", he said, as he grabbed my hand and we headed towards the woods. We walked the first few minutes in silence.

"So, uh where exactly did you come from? Did you just magically pop into the backyard?", Simon asked curiously. Well, how am I supposed to answer that? Telling the truth would mean hinting at who I really was, and we really don't need that right now. "Uh….well…that's a really long story that we really don't need to get into.", I said hoping he'd drop it. He didn't.

"Don't worry, I like long stories. It's bound to be an interesting one coming from an awesome girl like you.", he said with a smile, while getting closer to me and looking into my eyes expectantly.

Wait a minute. Was he _flirting_ with me? I swear if he's crushing on me _again_, then that will just be very inconvenient. I stepped away to get farther from him and said, "No, really. I'd rather not bore you with a horrible story like mine", I said hoping he'd get the hint that I didn't want to talk.

"Hey, I'm serious! I'm a good listener I swear!", he said with a smile that he probably used on his past girlfriends to persuade them to do something. I'm wasn't falling for it.

Suddenly, a huge wave of Déjà vu hit me like a brick in the face. I stopped short. This is just like the walk I took with Simon in these same woods last time! He was flirting with me then, too!

"Sarah, you okay?", Simon said while walking back to me. He seemed so concerned, but now I know from experience that these little "walks" translates to "dates" in Simon's mind. First of all I'm not interested in Simon, and these walks have never really ended well before.

I cleared my throat."Um, yeah, yeah I'm ok." I crossed my arms and made a fake yawn." It's just that it's still really cold out and I feel really tired right now, so maybe we should start heading ba-", and that's when everything went dark.


	11. Chapter 11

CPOV

I woke up in my room in the safe house. Well, it used to be my room before I….left. I blinked twice and looked at the ceiling. Why am I here, in Tori's bed? And why do I feel like I've been hit by five buses? 

I look to my left. Rachel's bed-my old bed- was empty. The only light in the room was coming from the blue numbers on the alarm clock. It was midnight.

All of a sudden, I heard breathing. I looked into the dark corner of the room, and saw a pair of glowing green eyes staring at me. Hold up, I know someone whose green eyes glowed in the dark. Even though I was still mad at him, I was kind of glad that he was here. "Derek, is that you?", I whispered with hope.

In less than a second those green eyes moved right in front of my face. "Of course I'm not Derek, you idiot!", Rachel snarled. The alarm clock next to the bed was casting a scary, blue-ish shadow on her face.

"I know who you really are, Chloe Saunders and I just wanted to say, that coming back here was a horrible idea.", she growled. I noticed her British accent kicked up a notch when she was angry.

I was so shocked, I couldn't move. "H-how do you know?", was all I could say. She laughed. "That disguise does nothing! The others are just too dumb and depressed to see It.", she hissed.

"But I don't know you! How do you know who I am?" I asked with confidence. She smiled, but it looked more like she was baring her teeth at me. She didn't have fangs, thank god, but her teeth looked so razor-sharp, that I bet they could cut through anything. I tried to move away, but I was so weak, that I couldn't even succeed in moving two millimeters.

"That doesn't matter, Chloe. I just suggest you keep your identity to yourself and leave.", she stood back up. "Or, I can kill you myself. But that's your choice."

She turned around and when she got to the door, she turned around again. "Oh yeah, and your puppy love with Derek will vanish as soon as I get a hold of him.", she said with an evil smirk.

Then she silently closed the door, and left without making a sound. It seemed as if she was never here in the first place. But I knew better to think that what just happened was a dream.

_**The next day…**_

I woke up to find everyone surrounding my bed. They all looked so worried. Even Rachel put on a fake-worried face on today. But Derek looked the worst. His eyes were bloodshot and he was as pale as a sheet of paper.

Simon looked relieved. "See, Andrew? I told you she'd wake up!", he said. Andrew, however, looked confused. "Yes, Simon, indeed she has.", he said. But he looked really confused for some reason.

"What happened?", I said groggily. Everyone shared a hesitant look. Simon spoke up first.

"Well, Sarah, we were on our walk in the forest, and all of a sudden you fell and blacked out.", he said slowly. I noticed that Derek winced when he said the word "walk". He must know the translation for that, too.

"I brought you back here and Andrew said that somehow you were hit with some sort of power-paralysis spell.", he said.

"Yes, that's right. That spell is very powerful and dangerous. I'm actually surprised you survived it, actually. We didn't know if you would wake up.", he said still looking confused.

I cleared my throat. "But who casted that spell at me?", I asked. _And why wasn't Simon hit, too?_ , I thought to myself.

"Well, I don't know, actually. But I'm glad your powers are strong enough to survive it, though.", he said that, but I could tell he didn't mean it at all.

"How long did you guys say I was asleep?", I asked. "You were out for three days straight. No food, no drink, and you're _still_ alive!", Tori said, looking impressed.

"Oh my god! Speaking of food, you haven't eaten in a while, so you must be starving! I'll go get you something to eat.", Rachel said, with a dazzling grin. To an unsuspecting person, that would actually look genuine.

"Well, I think I should go, too. I'm sure you know that I have a lot of work to do.", Andrew said. Then he quickly left the room. I heard him muttering to himself on the way out, but all I heard was "strong powers." Yep, my suspicion of him totally increased.

**Special thanks to Tinamc77 for the spontaneous inspiration! **


	12. Chapter 12

DPOV

I can't believe this. It hurts me too much see Sarah in pain, which makes me think. Could this girl be Chloe? I know my hope is taking over me. That Chloe's never coming back. And that she'll never forgive me. But I have to make sure.

It's been too long to keep blaming Chloe's and Sarah's similarities on my hopeful mind. There's something off about Sarah, and I'm going to go figure it out.

I get up to leave my room. When I open the door, I see Rachel on the other side, about to knock. Her _again_? She quickly puts her hand down.

"Hey, Derek! What are you up to?", she says, Obviously blocking my exit.

"Um, nothing." , I quickly got a new idea. "Hey, can you come inside for a minute?" I say. Her face immediately lights up. "Sure! I'd love to.", she says happily as she struts into my room. She sits down on my bed and pats the space next to her, gesturing for me to sit down, too.

Hesitantly, I take my seat next to her. "So, what did you want to talk about?", she says.

"Have you…..noticed anything off about Sarah? Does she strike you as a….different person?", I ask. Her expression becomes guarded and she stands up. "You're not still thinking about that ex-girlfriend of yours, are you?", she glares at me and crosses her arms.

"Well, I know you haven't met her, but you have to believe me when I say that she and Sarah might as well have been twins!", I say in frustration.

"Derek! Chloe is _gone_! Do you understand? She's is _never_ coming back! You can't seriously still be hung up on her when you already have _me_ can you?", she yells. Wait, what? Rachel thinks she's my _girlfriend_? I only like her as a _friend_! She must know that I'd never want to replace Chloe! She's my _mate _for goodness' sake! I stand up.

"No, Rachel,_ you_ don't understand. I'm not interested-", Rachel cuts me off. "Don't worry, I forgive you.", she sighs. Then she takes a step forward and hugs me. During that hug, she whispers in my ear, "I forgive you, but just don't go snooping around Sarah, okay? She's probably too overwhelmed right now, so you shouldn't bother her."

Then, she pulls back and silently leaves the room. I wait for 60 seconds, then I leave the room, too. The only way to figure anything out, is if I do it myself. I stop in front of the room Sarah's in. My hand pauses at the doorknob. What if I don't get any answers? And more importantly, what If she's not Chloe?

I quickly shake the thoughts out of my mind. No, Sarah is Chloe. I just know it. All I have to do is prove it.

I open the door, and enter the room.

**I'm gonna continue the story! Yay! **


	13. Chapter 13

CPOV

I was lying in bed, trying to remember if I saw or heard anything suspicious in the forest last week with Simon. Now that I think about it, I _did_ kind of feel like I was being watched on our walk. I don't know why, but I have a very bad feeling about those woods. I think there's something dangerous in there. All of a sudden, Derek walked in. Oh no. I _still_ couldn't stand to look at him. I looked away.

"What do _you_ want?" I asked with a harsh tone. A little _too_ harsh, actually.

"Well, I just wanted to check up on you, and see if you needed anything." he said. His face was so emotionless, it was hard to tell whether he was lying or not. I cleared my throat.

"Oh. Well no, I'm fine." I said quietly. I wonder what Derek's _really_ up to. He isn't really the type of person who would just 'come to check up on someone'.

Scratch that last thought. Maybe I'm being too hard on him. He really is a nice guy and maybe he really _does_ care. But oh well, I'm still mad at him.

"Are you sure? Did you want a glass of water or something? It's really hot in here, maybe you should take your sweatshirt off." he said.

Derek was right. Once he said that, it made me actually realize how stuffy it was in here. I quickly slid it off, which just left me in my long sleeve shirt. For some reason, Derek looked very disappointed at this.

DPOV

Of course she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. If she were wearing a short-sleeved shirt, then I would've seen either the bullet graze, or the stitches on her arm, which would confirm that she was Chloe. But she's not, so I'll have to think of something quick.

"What?" she asked, probably wondering why I was staring at her. She looked a little annoyed and she was eyeing me suspiciously.

"I was thinking, since nobody knew much about this spell, they probably didn't know all of the side effects. So maybe it would be smart to check for any injuries." I said, hoping she'll go along with it. She squirmed a little.

" No, I don't think I'm hurt. I'm just a little dizzy right now," she said. Wow, she really knows how to ruin a good plan. She may have won this round, but I won't give up.

"Oh, you're dizzy? I'll go get you a glass of water, then." I turned around and started to leave. "No Derek I don't need-", she started, but I said, "It's okay, I got it, Chlo-…." I paused. "I mean Sarah." I rushed out of the room. I can't believe I almost called her Chloe. I need to be more careful. I miss her so much, it kills me to think that she might be right under my nose the whole time. I know it's her, so I'll need a good plan. I _will_ think of something sooner or later.

CPOV

Oh. My. Gosh! Did Derek almost just call me Chloe? Did he know? He couldn't have, unless Rachel told him, but I'm pretty sure she didn't. Why would she tell him when she was up last night threatening me to keep it to myself? Derek knows that I'm Chloe, but how?

Then, I realized he _didn't _know. That's probably why he was here. To check to see if I was Chloe or not.

I can't let him know the truth. Not only would it be embarrassing, but it would also be terrifying. What if he tells everyone else? What if they want to kick me out again?

This cannot happen. I need to leave. I've spent some time here already when I knew I should've been staying away from them.

This whole situation gave me more damage than anything. I have to run away before things get any worse. If both Rachel _and_ Derek know, then it's only a matter of time until Simon and Tori know, too.

I'll leave tonight, when everyone's asleep. Then, I can quietly slip away and never see them again. I'll go to the woods, find my stuff in the clearing I fled from, then I'll just be on my own again. Maybe I can pretend this never happened in the first place.


	14. Chapter 14

CPOV

I waited until 2 in the morning, when everyone was asleep. I sat up and tried my best to get into a standing position. This is going to have to be a really quiet escape, so I can't blow it off by walking loudly.

Suddenly cold, I shrugged back into my sweatshirt. I took my sunglasses off the bedside table and propped them up on my head, like a headband. Well, now I'm all packed. I didn't have much with me when I came here.

_This is going to be difficult._ How am I going to try to walk out of the room and down the stairs silently, when I haven't walked in days? _Well, it's worth a shot, right?_ I gingerly took a step. Then another. And then I was successfully trudging/limping to the door! I trudged down the hall and stopped at the end. Now for the stairs.

I grabbed the banister with two hands, and leaned on it with all my weight. My legs felt like jelly. I slid slowly down the banister with my upper body first, and then my legs followed down the stairs.

_That wasn't so bad_. I walked to the backdoor as quietly and as slow as a turtle. I couldn't complain, though. Slow progress is still progress, right?

I silently opened the backdoor. Why was it still unlocked? This is supposed to be a safe house, so why aren't any safety precautions actually being taken place? Andrew can't be so confident in this location, that he lets all this slide. Liam and Ramon could've just walked in, and took me away in the night, and nothing would happen, because there are no locked doors, and this house probably doesn't even have an alarm system. Do the others _actually_ believe that they're safe here? Does _Derek_ believe that?

I shook that thought out of my head. Who cares what Derek thinks? _I_ certainly don't anymore.

I walked down the back porch steps, and started walking across the back yard. The full moon was bright enough to light my way. My feet felt so heavy against the tall grass, and it felt like my legs were submerged in water, and I was trying to walk through it. I made it to the edge of the trees, when I heard the voice.

"I knew you'd take my advice." said Rachel. I wheeled around to see her leaning on the backdoor, arms crossed, and a smug look on her face. I felt a pang of jealousy. Even in the moonlight, she looked like a freaking goddess. She was wearing black skinny jeans, and a black V-neck sweater that made her blend in with the night. She probably only wore designer clothes. "Finally realize you didn't belong here?" she said with a snarky tone. Of course, she would hear my attempt at escape, with her super-sonic hearing. Does she even sleep?

"What do you want _now_, Rachel?" I said, with enough bite in my words. I was extremely annoyed now.

"Oh me? I just wanted to see you on your way out. I wanted to make sure you had a safe escape." she said with a hand over her heart in mock-innocence. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm sure you did." I muttered through clenched teeth. I turned on my heels, and stalked deeper into the woods. All of a sudden, Rachel was walking right beside me. Was she really that fast?

"You can't just try to ignore me like that. Do you realize you're playing with fire? It would be a shame to burn such a pretty little face like yours." she said, with a dark voice.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I like playing with fire." I said. "I do it everyday." I laughed. A few months ago, I wouldn't even survive a diss-fight like this. But I've changed. I was just downright angry now. I picked up my pace, trying to lose her. She sped up, too, matching my pace every time. Can't she take a hint? I am _not_ in the mood to talk right now.

We reached a clearing and by the time I was in the middle of it, Rachel yanked my arm back to turn me around to face her. Her face was contorted with anger, and her green eyes glowed like light bulbs. She looked murderous.

"Stop trying to ditch me. You're making me mad, now." she growled. Her voice was so terrifying; I realized walking deep into the woods alone with her probably wasn't the best thing to do. A trickle of fear crept into me. Her grip on my arm was so tight, there were definitely going to be bruises in the morning. _If I lived until then._

Well, I can't do anything about that now, can I? "Tell me the _real_ reason you followed me here." I asked. My voice faltered a little, at the end. I guess my sudden burst of courage has worn off, already.

She laughed. "You didn't think I would just let you go scott-free, did you?" she asked, viciously.

"W-W-Why wouldn't y-you?" I stuttered. My voice was shaking all over the place.

"Because, you stupid girl, I have to make sure this doesn't happen again. I can't let you think you can just come back to the safe house whenever you want." she said.

"Well, I got your message loud and clear the first time. I _would_ be gone, if you weren't here distracting me." I said, pulling my arm out of her hand. My legs were starting to shake with fear.

"I don't care. You were supposed to be dead by now, anyway. I might as well do the job, since you've conveniently led me to this strange little clearing deep in the forest." she said indifferently, while looking around. Okay, letting her come with me was _definitely_ a bad idea. What does she mean I was supposed to be dead by now?

All of a sudden, she punched me in the stomach with such a force, that I fell to the ground and went blind for a second. Tears sprang into my eyes, and I gasped for breath. That hurt so bad, that I couldn't get up. I curled into a ball and laid there for a few minutes, with tears rolling down my face. Once I got my vision back, I looked up, and saw her rubbing her fist with her other hand. What _was_ she?

"That was _really_ satisfying." she said with a 1,000 mega-watt smile. "Too bad, I didn't come to do the dirty work, though." she gestured to her outfit. "Can't have blood on my clothes, can I? I'm just going to throw you to the dogs, now." she said. What does she mean by that?

She clapped two times, and Liam and Ramon stepped into the clearing. Oh, no. Were they following us the whole time? There's no way I can escape from them, now. They looked too angry for me to even consider persuading them to let me go.

"Finish her off boys! I'll keep watch. I want her in _pieces_ by the time I get back. And don't worry, if anything goes wrong, I have a good alibi ready." She blew me a kiss and waved before she walked off, without even looking back. I knew she wouldn't go far, because she said she was keeping watch. But she might've been lying.

I slowly turned around to face my doom. Liam and Ramon started closing in on me, as I backed away. _This cannot end well._


	15. Chapter 15

RPOV

_Finally some peace and quiet!_ I walked farther away from the clearing. Did they really think I was actually going to keep watch, and risk being caught in the crime scene? Ha! Liam and Ramon are _so_ stupid. But I have to give them credit. When I randomly met them in the woods, they seemed so eager to take me up on my offer to kill Chloe. It's like they already knew who Chloe was or something. _They probably do_, I thought to myself._ That girl's such a glutton for trouble; she's probably met up with them a few times, anyway._ I was getting closer to the "safe" house, when I smelled the unique scent that can only be described as Derek. Why is he outside? Did he come to see me and apologize? He's so sweet. I'm glad he agreed to be my boyfriend. _But he didn't, he said so himself!_ said a tiny voice in the back of my mind. Its not like I care! I'll announce it to the world if I have to. Derek _is_ my boyfriend whether he likes it or not.

I walked out of the forest and into the yard. Derek was crouched on the top porch step looking at the ground; searching for a scent, I supposed. When he didn't look up, I got closer. "Hey, Derek. What are you doing?" I said casually. He shot up so quickly; I took a few steps back. The expression on his face was a mixture of surprise and worry. Did I startle him?

"Calm down, I didn't mean to scare you." I said, sending one of my foolproof smiles his way.

DPOV

Where on earth did Rachel come from? Why didn't I smell her if she was so close? I wouldn't have expected to hear her; because I've known her long enough to know that she doesn't make a sound when she walks. Unless she wants to. But why couldn't I smell her? On any other day, I would smell her flowery perfume from a mile away. But that was an artificial scent, so what is her real scent? It took me a few sniffs in the air to realize that she didn't have one. Why is that?

"Calm down, I didn't mean to scare you." she said, sending me a flirtatious smile that would probably get any other guy drooling on the spot. But I'm not like any other guy. I don't _like _Rachel that way. Why _is_ Rachel outside anyway?

"What exactly were you _doing_ out here?" I asked, suspicious. Rachel shifted her weight and waved her hand in the air as if that was such an unimportant question.

" Oh, you know, just walking about. I couldn't sleep very well, actually. But I'm done walking now, so let's just go back inside." she said, taking my hand and trying to lead me to the door. I didn't budge, though. I need to look for Sarah.

"Hey, Rachel. Did you happen to know where Sarah was? I couldn't find her anywhere in the whole house." I said, trying for a casual tone, and failed. I ended up just making my voice a little deeper. Since Rachel was outside, she would probably know where Sarah went. I followed her scent out here, and was interrupted by Rachel, anyway. Why would Sarah risk coming out here, when she could barely move just hours ago? She hasn't walked in days!

"Sarah? Oh, I wouldn't know. But wherever she is, you should probably leave her alone. I noticed that she was feeling a bit overwhelmed today." she said with her strong British accent. I couldn't help but notice that her voice was a little flat when she said that. Her eyes told me that she really wasn't concerned at all. Why is she lying? I shrugged.

"Oh, well! You should go back inside, then. It's really late and you're going to need your sleep. I'll just stay out here for a little while and see to it that Sarah comes back safely." I said with false concern, hoping she would just leave already. I pushed her towards the door, but she just turned around and came back again. She acquired a barely-there smile.

"Oh, sweet Derek. That won't be necessary. I'm sure Sarah can take care of herself. Let's just go back to sleep like you said." she said, a little too urgently. She was starting to look worried, and she twisted a lock of her dark hair between her fingers, her glowing green eyes widened. She's nervous, for some reason. She's hiding something.

"No, really. I would be more than happy to do it by myself. It's really late, and I have a bad feeling about these woods, so I'm just going to go look for her and tell her to come back, now." I said. _ So then, I could prove whether she's really Chloe or not. _I started to walk across the yard.

"Well then maybe I'll go with you. You know, just to be safe. There's power in numbers, right?" she said catching up to me. She was scanning the whole forest and she frequently gave a look over her shoulder. _Who or what was she looking for, and why do I have the feeling that she didn't come with me for Sarah's benefit at all?_

I followed Sarah's scent into the dense, darker part of the forest. What was she thinking coming here at night? I was starting to really get worried.

CPOV

I backed into a tree. I was shaking all over. This is it. I can't run anymore, because my legs can still barely walk. I'm just going to have to suffer whatever punishment they came here to give me, and hope I lived through it.

"Looks like little red riding hood ran into some big bad wolves in the forest again.", said Liam, referring to my dyed hair. He had a sinister grin on his face.

"Yea, I'm getting tired of running into you all the time.", said Ramon. "We're just here to make sure that doesn't happen again." He pulled out a knife and I froze.

"Yea, that's right. You stabbed me, so I'll stab you, too.", he said, with triumph. He jammed the knife into my side, and I dropped to the ground, immediately closing my eyes.

I opened my eyes, and I was standing. _How am I standing up?_ I looked around and saw that I was still in the same clearing, but something was wrong. Something felt very, very wrong.

I looked down to my feet, and saw my own dead body lying there on the now bloodstained grass. My skin was very pale, and my lips were turning blue. When realization hit me, I cried out. _What happened to seeing a light at the end of the tunnel of death?_

I screamed and screamed until I heard the voice. Ramon's voice. I whipped around, and saw that he was talking on his cell-phone, while Liam stands patiently at his side.

"What should I do with her? Now that she's dead, I don't think we can still use her as bait, anymore.", he said. Then, he cringed back, as I heard the muffled yelling coming from the other side of the line.

_What should he do with me? Is that the only thing they care about after killing someone, is "What should I do with the body?"._

I was angry now. So angry, that I summoned all the power that I could into my body. I didn't know if my powers would still work if I was dead, but it was worth a shot. I'm a necromancer, right? I _specialize_ in working with the dead.

I don't know what I was planning to do, but I wanted Liam and Ramon dead, and I don't care how it happened.

I focused all of my energy towards Ramon, and imagined pulling his soul out of his body. I do that with zombies, so I should be able to do that with the living, right?

All of a sudden, Ramon staggers back and almost drops his phone. He immediately goes back to his call.

"Uh, sorry sir. I don't know what just happened. I think Liam was just playing around again. Could you please hold on for a second?", he said innocently. He put his hand over the speaker of the phone and whispered to Liam.

"What the heck was that for? Why'd you push me while I was making a very _important_ call?", he whispered harshly.

"Dude I really don't know what you're talkin' about. I didn't even _touch_ you. Now stop messin' around and keep talkin' to boss, I'm tired of standing around.", he said while glaring back at Ramon. Ramon grunted.

"Stop lying. Whatever you did, _don't do it again_, you hear me?", he said. Then he put the phone back to his ear.

"Sorry sir, you know how Liam gets sometimes. So what were you saying again?", he said with his most professional voice.

_Did he fall back because of me? Did _I_ do that? _I tried again, harder this time. I imagined pulling his soul out of his body. This time, Ramon fell to the ground completely, and dropped the phone. He laid still on the ground with his eyes still open.

"Ramon?", Liam crouched down beside Ramon. "Dude stop messin' with me, and finish talking to boss. The alpha's gonna _hate_ us if he figures out you've been making him wait out, while you try to prank me.", he said. He shook Ramon's shoulder.

"Ramon? Wake up already.", he said, more nervously this time. He put his fingers to his neck and checked Ramon's pulse. After a few seconds, he shot up, and back away quickly.

"Oh my god.", he whispered in terror as he backed away. His skin paled, and his terrified gaze switched from his body to mine, and a look of realization hit his face. He kept backing away and looking around frantically, as if he was looking for a ghost. Finally, he turned on his heels and ran away, without one look back.

_Oh. My. Gosh! Did I just...did I just kill a person? How could I have gone so low? Oh my gosh, I'm a horrible, horrible person_. All of my anger for Liam and Ramon simmered away, and I was just left with an incredible amount of guilt. _What have I done?_


	16. Chapter 16

DPOV

Rachel and I walked through the woods in silence, except when she gave me directions.

"I think she's over here," she said pointing to the left. I growled. She'd been saying things like that the whole time, and I know she's lying because Sarah's scent is clearly leading towards the right. So that's where I went.

"Derek what are you doing? I just told you that she was over here," Rachel said, gesturing behind her.

"Oh, quit the act, Rachel, I know you're lying. I know you can smell her scent leading to the right, probably better than I can. Why are you so intent on veering me away? Are you trying to hide something, because it sure looks like it," I said angrily to her, my voice getting deeper. Her expression changed to one of anger, and she threw up her hands.

"Fine, you want to go the wrong way? Be my guest. Why are you so angry, I was just trying to _help_ you." she said, as if _I_ was the bad guy. I hunched my shoulders and kept walking away from her.

"Don't you dare walk away from _me,_ Derek. Just because I'm your girlfriend, doesn't mean you can treat me anyway you want! I have _feelings_ you know!" she called after me. I wheeled around on her.

"Rachel! I'M. _NOT_. YOUR. BOYFRIEND! Can't you get a hint? I've _never_ liked you like that! And I'm not just gonna sit here and let you believe that we have something together, because we _don't_. So get that delusion out of your thick head!" I gauged her reaction. She actually looked _hurt_. Her eyes were watering, tears daring to spill over.

"That hurts." She whispered. She didn't say anything else. Cold rejection was expressed on her face, and she put her hand over her heart, as if it was paining her. Her breathing got faster; as she realized that her relationship with me was never real. She let out one sob, but that was it. She stood up straighter, not bothering to wipe her tears away.

"You'll pay for that." She announced. She walked up to me, took my face in her hands and kissed me. She had never kissed me before. It felt like a bunch of snakes wrapping around me and trying to suffocate me. I tried to get away, but she had me in a vice grip. Where'd she get this power from? I had to use all of my strength to push her away.

"_What _do you think you're _doing?_" I said in disgust. She stared at me blankly.

"You rejected me. I had to kiss you one last time, before I start to think of you as an enemy, too." She said flatly. What is she talking about?

I turned away and ran, following Sarah's scent. Running away from women isn't really what I'm used to, but I _have_ to get away from Rachel, before she continues to go all psycho on me.

I kept running until I reached a clearing. I looked around in the darkness. Ramon was lying down on the ground. _What's he doing here; I thought I lost him on the streets when I was with…_I shook my thought of _her_ away and turned back to the smelled dead. I smelled something else, too. It was Sarah's scent. I turned my head a little to the right, and saw her body on the ground. I didn't hear her breathing. _Oh no, she must've had a run in, with Liam and Ramon!_

"Sarah!" I ran to her body, but before I could check her pulse, I heard a twig snap behind me. I jumped up, and turned around. If it's Liam, coming back for Ramon, I'm going to kill him for even _thinking_ about hurting Sarah. The clouds shifted away from the moon, and I saw perfectly who it was.

"Idiots. I tell them to do a _simple_ job, and they get themselves killed in the process." Rachel muttered. She gave me a Cheshire cat grin, while she gestured to Sarah's body. "I warned you not to go this way."

CPOV

I stared at my translucent hands in horror. I have the power to kill whoever I want, whenever I want. The guilt of ending someone's life just for my sake, blanketed over me. My powers just got a thousand times more dangerous. _Why me? I'm an innocent person, why am I the one who can kill someone just by looking at them? That's not even in my position to decide!_

I can kill people even in my death. That's just sick. I would be happy that my powers are finally effective towards my safety, but I didn't feel it. I just felt evil. What's bizarre is that I didn't even see Ramon's soul after he died. I guess that meant he just crossed over with no problem. Why didn't _I_ cross over, too? I sensed another presence. I turned around.

"Liz?" I asked, in shock. There she was, in the same pajamas that never changed since she died. She gave me a confused look.

"Hey…Chloe. Why exactly are you in this realm? Not that I mind another soul companion, but this isn't right." She looked at my body on the ground. "Nice look, by the way. The red hair really suits you." If I could cry as a ghost, I would've. I fell to my knees.

"Liz, don't you see? I'm…dead now." My voice cracked as I said that, more to myself than to her. She got confused again.

"Chloe, you're not dead." She shifted uncomfortably. She looked like she had seen a ghost, which I guess she has.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I can sense your presence, and you don't feel like a ghost. You're not technically breathing right now, but you're not dead. Somehow you got your soul knocked out of you. I don't understand how this is possible, but you should really return to your body, before it's too late and you _really_ turn dead. " I opened my mind to this possibility, and immediately felt hope seeping into my brain.

"Really? I'm still alive? Well, how can I come back to life?" I asked Liz. But before she could answer, I witnessed Derek run into the clearing.

"Sarah!" he yelled running to my side. _He found me!_ Before he could do anything I saw Rachel approaching behind him, and my happiness faded away.

"Idiots. I tell them to do a _simple_ job, and they get themselves killed in the process." Rachel muttered. She gave him a Cheshire cat grin, while she gestured to my limp body. "I warned you not to go this way." Derek tensed up.

"Are _you_ responsible for this?" he asked viciously. His glare was so murderous, that Rachel backed away a step.

"Derek! How could you _assume_ such a thing! I would _never!_" she said sarcastically.

"Save it. I'm _so_ sick of your lies. I bet you got jealous and thought killing this innocent victim was the only way to make sure you were clear of competition. I can't _believe_ you." He said quietly. I could tell he was counting on every cell in his body to keep him calm.

"Ha! Jealous? You think this was about _you?_" She said this as if she didn't care, but I could tell she was really offended and hurt by something. _What happened? _

"I _tried_ to spare your life. I actually _wanted_ you to live, so you could be with me! I'm a loving, beautiful, _PERFECT_ girlfriend! But you kicked me to the curb. Bad mistake. You pretty much just added yourself to the kill list." She said, with her voice dripping with venom.

"You're insane," Derek said. I could barely understand him, because I knew he was getting angry enough for his change to start coming. By now, I totally forgot that Liz was still next to me.

"Chloe, just do it the way you usually do with zombies! Go back out there, before a battle breaks out!" Liz shouted, in worry. I pressed my hands to my temples, and concentrated on putting my soul back in my body.

"You wouldn't hit a girl, would you? You don't want to fight _me_, Derek." Rachel said in a threatening voice, provoking him. It was so _hard_ to concentrate!

I covered my ears with my hands, and concentrated as best as I could. All of a sudden, I was in darkness, the space between realms, and I was falling. I kept falling, and falling, it was like there was no end. I saw a purple light at the bottom of this abyss; it was the same color as the necklace my mom gave me, to ward of the scary nightmares I used to have when I was little. As I fell, the light grew bigger and bigger, until I was completely surrounded in the light.

I opened my eyes wide and woke up with a gasp, back on the ground of the clearing.

**If there are any religious references in here, they were NOT meant to offend you!**


	17. Chapter 17

TPOV

I woke up to a hand shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Simon with his face leaning dangerously close to mine. I stifled a scream and jerked back.

"Holy-! What do you think you're doing? I'm trying to _sleep._" I whispered furiously. I sat up and scanned the dark room that was only lit up by the moonlight seeping through the window. Rachel's bed was empty, and Simon looked worried.

"What's going on? Where's Rachel?" I glared at Simon. "Did you scare her off or something?"

"That's just the problem. It's not just Rachel. Derek was gone when I woke up, too. I got worried and I checked Sarah's room, and her bed was also empty," he whispered back.

I shook my head, trying to catch up with him. "So you're saying everyone in the house is gone? What if they're in trouble? What if they were taken? Is Andrew still here?" I attacked him with questions.

Simon shrugged. "I don't know, but I should go check. Get ready, I'll meet you at the back door." He ran off to wake Andrew, and I sprang into action. I replaced my shorts with jeans, and pulled a hoodie over my tank top. I quickly slid my feet into my converse sneakers and tried my best to smooth down my wild, spiky hair.

I walked to the closet and swung open the double doors. I pushed through the rack of clothes until I could see my black emergency backpack in the back corner. It had every essential I would need if everyone had to return to the streets randomly, including the flashlight I took out of it.

I slung it over my shoulders and stalked out of the room. I flew down the stairs and turned right, towards the back door, which was already propped open, with Simon and Andrew waiting on the other side, looking at me expectantly.

I struggled to catch up with them as they started towards the woods. "Wait, so what's the plan? How do you guys even know they're in the forest? What if they're headed towards the city?" Andrew sighed.

"It would be the first place to check, because that's where Derek would go, if he's having one of his changes." I kept looking at him, waiting for the point of that.

"Okay… what's the punch-line? Why would Rachel and Sarah be there, if _he's_ there?" But Andrew kept looking ahead, not even bothering to glance in my direction. He looked determined, irritated, and a little scary. Wait a minute, did I just think he was scary? This is _Andrew_, the guy who saved us all back at Simon's dad's house. He's not scary at all.

I looked to Simon. He shrugged, too. "I don't get what he's saying, either. But he's probably right about checking here first." He whispered. I decided to let it slide and just follow along. We scoured as much of the forest as we could, starting with the right side of the trail, and then the left. There was no sight of them anywhere, and I was getting impatient.

"Okay, it doesn't look like they're here, so maybe we should go back and check the front of the house. If they're in danger, it's not helping if we take as long as possible to save them." I complained. But Andrew only grunted.

"Patience, Tori. Please! I know what I'm doing, and I don't need you ruining my thought process!" He said in a tone so sharp, I actually stopped walking for a minute, watching his back as he walked farther and farther away from me. Simon glanced back and saw that I was lagging behind. He motioned for me to hurry up, and I start walking again, but more cautious this time.

_Why would Andrew be so angry with me? He's never showed any emotion other than happiness during the whole three months I knew him._ It was really unsettling, because I didn't necessarily _like_ being on his bad side. With anyone else, I wouldn't care, but Andrew actually mattered to me. He was one of the most reliable leaders I've followed since escaping the Lyle House. Well, except Derek, but he wasn't necessarily kind to me at all, and he became withdrawn and sullen after…_she_ left. It's not the same being led by a heart-broken werewolf. Andrew was like the father I never had. The closest thing to a parent I have right now.

_Maybe he's just on edge because he's worried about the others. Yeah, that's it. He's just grouchy because he hasn't found anyone yet. He can't _really _be mad at me. _

I continue to follow along, when Andrew's flashlight went out. He cursed under his breath, and held his hand up for a light spell. I wondered why I didn't think of doing that earlier, when I realized it probably wouldn't have been a smart idea, anyway. If we're being faced with danger, it would be great to have all my energy saved up.

All of a sudden, I heard a scream. It was long, loud, and it made the hairs rise on the back of my neck. I was suddenly aware of how scary the woods looked during the night, and how all sorts of bad things could happen here.

The sound didn't come from far away, and Andrew and Simon immediately picked up their pace to a run. I sprinted to catch up and I slammed into Simon's back when he and Andrew abruptly stopped. We were at the edge of a clearing, not quite in view. But what I saw made my jaw drop.

I saw Sarah, sprawled on the ground trying her best to get up and back away, but it seemed like she was too injured and exhausted to get very far. Derek was in full wolf form, and he was circling and big, crimson red fox. Both of them looked ready to pounce.

**Sorry for the long wait! I tried doing Tori's perception of all this, kinda like a deleted scene. **


	18. Chapter 18

CPOV

I barely had enough time to get away after my first few breaths. My sight was finally returning, when I heard a piercing scream. It was a horrible, loud, screech that actually hurt my ears. I turned around, and it was Rachel.

She was pinned underneath Derek, who had already transformed into a wolf by then. She struggled to get away, but she wasn't getting anywhere. I watched in horror as the hurt in her eyes turned to anger, and that's when the change began.

It happened so fast. Her long hair receded, and her big green eyes widened. As she screamed I saw her teeth sharpen into little knives inside her mouth. A few moments later, and she was a fox already free from Derek's hold. She snarled at him, and he growled back.

I shook my head, not believing my eyes. I couldn't even _begin_ to process this. How was she a fox? Foxes aren't too scary, except if you were a bird or rabbit. But one look at Rachel totally changed my mind.

Rachel lunged for him, but Derek got out of the way just in time. They seemed to be dancing on their feet, circling each other. I winced as I dragged by body away by my elbows, inch by inch, as fast as my injury would let me.

Rachel stared him down, not even blinking. Somewhere I heard that foxes baited their prey, and had a little fun with them before going in for the kill. But from what I've seen so far, there was no more time for fun and games.

She gracefully alternated between standing close to him, then farther, as if testing her boundaries. Derek was having none of it. He followed her movements every time.

I should break this up before this little duel gets any further. I was about call out, when I heard a bunch of footsteps coming from the woods. I panicked and called out.

"Derek. Rachel." I held my side and winced between breaths. "This needs to stop _now_. I hear somebody in the woods." Derek whipped around so fast; it was like he was surprised I said anything. Which makes sense, since he hadn't yet figured out I'd come back to life.

Unfortunately, Rachel took advantage of the distraction to attack. She knocked him over, and dug her claws deep into his back. Derek let out a yelp, and he immediately returned to fight mode.

He retaliated, and the fight only got worse from there. Soon, they were rolling on the ground, growling and clawing at each other. I screamed for them to stop, but they ignored me. I knew nothing good would happen if I threw myself in the midst of the fight, so I sat there, helpless. It was all I could do, what with the large amount of blood I was losing. I pressed my hand tighter over the gash, and gasped for more deep breaths.

I heard a twig snap, and I was immediately aware that we were not alone. I squinted to get a better look into the dark shroud of the trees, but didn't see anything. Suddenly, Andrew walked into the clearing, followed by Simon and Tori. They stopped in shock at the sight, not knowing what to do.

"Guys! Be careful, don't get to close!" I whispered. The pain was so excruciating, that I didn't want to talk so loudly anymore. I doubted they heard me.

Andrew walked towards the blurred shapes of Rachel and Derek. He mouthed a spell and flicked his hands towards the fight. Suddenly, Rachel and Derek flew apart in different directions as if blown away.

"That's enough! Now is not the time to be turning against each other!" Andrew shouted, firmly. Derek and Rachel stilled snarled at each other from a distance, though. Andrew planted himself between them, glaring at Rachel.

"This is _not_ part of the plan, you little brat! Can't you follow directions?" He said. Rachel morphed back into her human form, fully clothed, in pretty much five seconds. Her icy glare turned towards Andrew.

"This has _nothing_ to do with you," she growled.

"Oh, it doesn't? Could've fooled me."

"You don't understand. This was…" She glanced back at Derek. "Personal."

"Personal? You're letting your emotions get between you and success, GET OVER HIM!" Andrew spat. Rachel stood up, her gaze traveling from Andrew, to Derek, and then back to Andrew.

"Let's not talk about this here. It could ruin the-"

"Oh, so _now_ you're worried about ruining the plan? I can't _believe_ you!"

"Andrew! Not here." Rachel gave him a guarded look.

"Okay, I don't get it. What plan are we talking about?" Tori asked. I second that question.

"Might as well give it up, now. They won't be alive for much longer, the least we could do was let them know the set up." Andrew said grimly.

"What setup?" Simon asked. Rachel sighed, looking guilty like a like a kid who was caught texting in class.

"Everything is a setup Simon. Everything." She said in defeat. The whole clearing lapses into a silence. Can't wait to hear the explanation for this one.

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we? It all started when we kicked Chloe to the curb," Andrew said. At this, everyone winced, including me. All the bad memories from that time rushed back into me.

"Well, you all didn't really do it willingly. I cast a spell on you all, making you completely obedient to me. When I announced that she was leaving, you were very eager to agree. Derek was the hardest to influence, though, because the spell went against his instincts. She was his mate, and it took a lot to turn him against her. And after all of my struggles, he still didn't enjoy the fact of her leaving. He just loosely went along with it, but I could tell it was still going against the grain."

I was shocked at this. All this time I was thinking they didn't care about me anymore, and now I know it was all a scam. Just knowing how hard that was for Derek, warmed my heart.

"But why would you do that?" Tori asked.

"It was all part of the plan. Chloe was the one that was more of a failure. She was a mistake. She needed the most help. But when you four did everything in your power to get her out of the Edison Group's grasp _three times_, all hope was lost for her. She was to be exterminated on contact." I shuddered at the thought. "Unfortunately, since there was a price on her head, and the whole state looking for her, we decided not to kill her directly. We kicked her out to the streets. She's such a frail thing, hardly able to take care of herself. That, and the fact that she was probably too heartbroken to do anything right. The plan was for her to slowly wither and die on her own, so her death couldn't be tied back to us if her father ever found her body."

Simon gasped at this. Tears dripped down Tori's face. Derek let out a small whimper. All of these were their reactions to the horrible fate that they thought was brought upon their friend Chloe. Andrew continued on.

"I contacted the Edison Group when she was gone, and that' when Rachel came into the picture. You three needed to stay alive due to our lack of other subjects with the same abilities as you. Rachel was one of our successes. She was raised by the Edison Group and has been helping us in our studies ever since. She was to be immersed into your environment as a more useful replacement to Chloe. She was to gain your trust and eventually convince you all to turn yourselves in. If you look back at the past month, you would see that she was doing a good job. She immediately befriended Tori and Simon. She even almost got Derek on board. But something came up, messing everything up." Andrew said, looking my way.

"Me." I say.

"Yes. The 'innocent' Sarah who doesn't mean _any_ harm," he said sarcastically. "I always had my doubts about you. At first, I just thought of you as an addition to my plan, but then I started to suspect a few things. You always seemed a little familiar to me but I could never get it quite right…"

He pauses for a moment, letting it all sink in to everybody. Simon's, Tori's, and Derek's eyes widen.

"That's right everybody. Your new friend Sarah, is actually your old friend Chloe." Rachel announced.


	19. Chapter 19

CPOV

Everyone gasped, and every set of eyes turned to me. I didn't know what to do with all the attention. I was hoping that this would happen much, much later. What should I do? What should I say?

Suddenly Tori ran straight to me. She hugged me so hard, it felt like I was actually being strangled as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Oh my god, Chloe, I'm so sorry. I would've never agreed to do that in real life, you know that, right? I mean, I know we aren't the best of friends, but I'm not that cruel, really! I'm not evil, like my mother. I can't believe you're still alive, I'm _so_ sorry. _Please_ forgive me." At the last sentence, her voice broke and she actually let a few tears escape her eyes, but she immediately wiped them away and regained her composure. Then, Simon came in and hugged me also. Derek walked up behind me and nudged my leg, but he couldn't hug me in wolf form.

I stood still, though. I didn't hug them back. As much as I'd love for such a happy ending right now, I just couldn't participate. After months of hating these people, it was kinda hard to just forgive and forget. I stood there frozen until they let go of me.

"Um, whatever." I murmured. Their expressions withered even more, like they expected me to immediately forgive them. I mean, shouldn't this be easy, though? Isn't this what I wanted all along?

I needed more time to think, more time to concentrate on my decision, so I thought I'd just go back to the matter at hand.

"What did you mean when you said that we wouldn't be alive much longer?" I asked Andrew.

"Yes, yes, of course. Back to the point. What I meant, was that all this was a trap. Only it wasn't supposed to workout like this. Because Chloe recklessly came along and ruined everything, I set Rachel up to dispose of her tonight. But she decided to be elaborate and hire a few idiots to do the job, as you can see." He gestured to Liam's dead body on the ground. Tori, Derek, and Simon blinked, as if noticing him for the first time. I shuddered, reminded of what I did to him.

"I'm still a little confused about what happened between then and now, but I can surely tell you that whatever Chloe did to him is more than enough proof that she needs to be exterminated." He said. I stiffened. "And since I know all of this new information will make you three even more resistant to leave her, let's just say we won't be doing anything the nice way anymore. We're taking Derek, Simon, and Tori by force back to the labs. Chloe will stay here and my ..._colleagues_ will determine her fate. Now I'm going to ask one more time, would everyone _but_ Chloe like to follow me?" He asked flatly, holding his hand out to Simon. Simon smacked it away.

"Why would you do this, Andrew? Me and Derek _trusted_ you. You said you would help us during any emergency. You told us you were _against_ the Edison Group!" Simon said through clenched teeth. He was shaking with fury. Andrew sighed.

"Yes, I may have stretched the truth a little bit, but I _do_ want to help you. Why do you think I'm sparing your life? I'm sure it would just crush you if any of your siblings were harmed."

"Tori's not my sibling. You know that."

"Oh, do I? I know for a fact that she is your biological half-sister and that's the truth whether or not you choose to believe it."

"Well, I choose not to. How do I know you're not lying to me again?"

"This conversation is futile! We'll talk about this later, but for now, just gather your friends and we'll be safely on our way-"

"Chloe's my friend too, you know."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid she can't come with you." Andrew said firmly.

"Too bad then, because there's no way you're separating us again."

"I was afraid it would come to this, but…" Andrew whistled into the forest, and a team of people came out, surrounding us on all sides. They wore really effective camouflage and they were armed. Just tranq guns, though. A little bit of relief went through me. But we were surrounded. There was nothing we could do. We were stuck.

Because of my lack of real hope, I started to formulate a plan, a stupid one that included playing dead. But all of a sudden, one of the forest ninjas dropped his gun. He swore and picked it up. But when he was back in position, the guy next to him dropped his gun, too.

All of a sudden every gun in the clearing flew out of the guards' arms and into the distance. I looked around to see Liz sitting in a tree closing her eyes in concentration. She opened her eyes and winked at me. I nodded slightly as to not let anyone know where she was.

By now, all of the guards were running after their weapons and we took advantage of that set-back to make our escape. We bolted into the trees and started running in the opposite direction than the guards.

"Hey! Stop!" Andrew yelled. "Rachel, go get them!" Rachel stood from her crouch and brushed off her designer black jeans.

"Oh, shut up, Andrew, you don't own me!" She immediately started running after us. When the others noticed, Simon stopped running and turned around, mouthing words and forming an energy ball in his hands.

"Simon, stop. I'm not the enemy here. I want to escape _with_ you!" Rachel pleaded, but her British accent didn't faze Simon in the least. He glanced at me for confirmation, and I nodded. She _was_ one of us, after all. And if we get out of this mess, she could give us some useful information about the Edison Group.

We continued running and caught up with Derek and Tori. We kept running, until Derek had to stop. He body was convulsing, and I guessed that he was about to change back. This is just _perfect_.

We all waited in the brush while Derek changed and at the end, he was also fully clothed. He must've learned that trick while I was gone. It took him five whole minutes. A big improvement from the last time I'd seen him change, but still worse than the few seconds it took Rachel. And because of that lost time, I heard our followers getting closer.

"We gotta go, or we'll be having company soon." I warned. Everyone got out of their hiding places and I was about to continue running, when I felt a sharp pain in my neck. My hand flew up to the spot and I felt a dart protruding from my skin.

I pulled it out to reveal that it was empty, having submitted all of its contents into my bloodstream. This. Is. Not. Good.

"Ow." was all I said when I realized what had happened. I stopped running and watched as everyone else continued to run off without me. Only one of them noticed, though. Derek stopped running and turned around to get me. By now, my balance escaped me, and I was on the ground, suddenly exhausted.

"Chloe, what happened?" He asked. But then, he saw the dart in my hand, and his eyes widened in realization. He swore and looked around.

"I don't smell anyone. The shot couldn't have been made at close-range. They're probably just shooting blindly into the darkness." He said quietly. Leave it to Derek to make up an excuse as to why I was the only one shot at. He started to pull me up.

"Derek it's okay. It's me they want. They don't want you guys dead. You should go while you have the chance." I slurred quietly, blinking my eyes hard, trying to see through the dark spots taking over my vision. He held my face close to his, green eyes glowing in pain, panic, and determination.

"Look, there's no way I'm leaving you again, got it?" he said firmly. Having no energy to argue, I just shook my head. He must have taken that as a nod, because he continued to drape me over his shoulders. I had no power to resist as he started to run again, his pace a little slower than before, but not by a lot.

All of a sudden, a branch swung out from nowhere and hit Derek in the side. We both came crashing down. I rolled out of the way, until I stopped on my back, staring at the starry night sky through the treetops.

"What happened?" I whispered into the air. I heard a struggle going on behind me. I moved my eyes towards the sounds, to see Derek pinned down to the ground by one of the guards, who was simultaneously trying to tie his wrists together. Another one was trying to keep him still enough to inject his arm with the same stuff that was in the tranquilizer darts.

During all this, Derek was yelling and squirming and he never stopped fighting them. I predicted this wouldn't go down too well, and even though I was still mad at him, I just couldn't stand just waiting around while mad scientists tried capture him. It was just too much.

I closed my eyes and concentrated, gathering up all my hatred and anger and applied it to my wish to have the two guys killed. A few seconds later, the sounds stopped. I looked again, to see a very confused Derek lying under a pile of dead bodies. More people must've joined in the fray while I wasn't looking. He pushed his way out from under them. And brushed himself off.

"Did they just die for no reason?" he asked in disbelief.

"Not right now, Derek. I'll explain later. We have to go." I said, clearly and distinctly. I suddenly felt way better. Was it because I just killed those people? Did I just steal their energy? Unfortunately, I couldn't think about it too much, because now that I could move again, I was ready to keep going. Once I was back on my feet, I turned to see Derek standing there, gaping at me in awe.

"Are we gonna go, or what?" I asked him. He didn't say anything, he just nodded and got in front of me again, leading us in the direction of the others.


	20. Chapter 20

CPOV

At the end of it all, we ended up settling down in an alley one town over, because we were in no shape to go long distances at that point. While everyone caught their breath, I took inventory. I deduced that I had no stuff, no money, no enthusiasm, and four more tired souls to worry about.

Tori backed against the brick wall, and slid down until she was seated on the ground next to Simon, who was also sitting, his legs stretched out in front of him. "So what do we do now? We're back on the _streets_ again." She said with a weary voice. I made my way to the mouth of the alley and looked out onto the empty street.

"Well, I'm going to go find a convenience store to get us some food and stuff, after I get my hands on an ATM." While stepping over Simon's legs, he grabbed hold of my hand.

"Wait! What about _her_?" He jerked a thumb towards Rachel, who glared at him. Oh yeah, I forgot about Rachel. "What _about_ me, Simon?" she snapped in her accent. Simon just gave me a pleading look, probably hoping I would kick her out.

"Well, before we decide anything maybe we should hear her story first." I said, bringing my gaze to Rachel, who was casually leaning against the wall of the alley. She brought a finger to her lips, deep in thought.

"Hmm… where should I begin?" she stared into space for a moment. "Okay, you better take a seat, because I'm starting from the beginning. I was a born a test-tube baby, a lot like Tori actually." Tori raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't say anything. "But I was never released into the real world. I was raised at the lab, kind of like Derek, but minus the siblings." Derek tensed up at this, but didn't speak up. "They told me that I was their control group. I was the experiment that would always be under their control, and in their environment. I was the safe bet. Everyday I was poked and prodded, and tested and experimented on. When I was little, I didn't complain, because I didn't know any better. I didn't have any parents, and the all the people with the white lab coats were my family. I'd only heard stories about what life was like in the outside world, and from the horrible things I heard, I didn't exactly want to see it for myself." Everyone leaned in with anticipation, her story actually being better than they thought.

"But one day when I was four, and don't ask how I can remember that far back, I was walking around the lab when I first saw another kid. I'd never seen anyone my age in the part of the lab I stayed in, so I never questioned it until that moment. I remember it vividly. I was walking in the hall, when I saw one door left ajar. It was strange because usually every door in the building was usually locked and you needed a code to unlock it. Through the crack in the doorway, I saw the kid. He had midnight black hair and he was on his knees with his back to me. He seemed to be playing with something by himself. Suddenly, his head jerked up, and he whipped around, noticing me for the first time. He was, in fact, the first boy I'd ever seen that was my age, and by the way he looked at me I could tell the feeling was mutual. I stared into his green eyes for what felt like five minutes straight, until the kid was suddenly tackled over by another kid. By now I was amazed that there were two of them. The two boys wrestled each other for a minute, rolling on the floor until the first boy with the green eyes painfully smacked into the door, slamming it closed. After that, I heard the click of the magnetic lock turning on and I knew that door wouldn't open again without a combination. But I still stood there, shell-shocked. I just saw two other kids, my own age! I rushed back to my section of the lab, asking myself why no one had told me about them before. It wasn't until I saw the boys that I realized how lonely I was in the lab. Maybe there were more of them there in that room. Maybe there might be another room in the lab filled with other girls I could play with! For the next few days I told my nurses about what I saw and asked them if I could go visit the boys so I could meet them. But every time I brought it up, they just shook their heads and told me I was making it up. I even tried brining them with me, so I could show them the room in person, but that's when they would get mad, and call the men in the lab coats to drag me to my room and lock me in. I never knew why they did that, but it made me angry. I knew I wasn't crazy. I'd never seen a boy like that before, so I couldn't have made it up. But no one ever believed me. They always chalked it up to my overactive imagination.

"So I continued to grow into adolescence, but life wasn't so easy after that. The men in the lab coats and I weren't on good terms. I would always moan and groan and make everything hard for them. I just didn't get why I was being experimented on, while the other boys got to have a room full of toys to themselves. By the time I was twelve, I gave up hope on the other boys. I told myself they probably weren't even there anymore. When I reached thirteen, I had my first change. It was horrible, and I didn't even know what was happening. I stayed there, suffering on the cold, hard floor and none of the nurses or the men in the lab coats helped me. They stared at me in amazement like I wasn't actually turning into a monster in front of them. But I was, and I knew it. It was at that moment, when I realized that this was what all the shots were preparing me for. All the drugs and the tests, it was all for this. I realized that it was the lab staff's fault for me being like this. I didn't know what was happening to myself when I turned into a fox for the first time. It was horrible…" She trailed off for a second and crossed her arms self-consciously, her eyes focused on her shoes. "But anyway, I stayed at the lab willingly after that. I didn't know how to handle the changes and the men in the lab coats helped me with that. It was going along great until I was confronted with my first mission. One day, the men in the lab coats gave me a file with the name "Variable group" scrawled on the front. I opened it and it had all of your pictures in it. They were all very candid photos of you all during your daily lives, and they each came with a personal bio of each of you. You were all the experiments that were born under different circumstances and raised in different ways. I flipped through the pictures, until I reached the last one and almost had a heart attack. It was the boy with the green eyes. He was all grown-up." She glanced at Derek, who stood completely frozen. Simon had a look of realization, and Tori made a little gasp. Even_ I_ was surprised. But none of us said anything. We waited for her to finish.

"Once I saw his picture, that was it. I didn't care what the mission was, as long as it brought me closer to that boy again. So you could imagine my happiness when I was shipped out of the lab for the first time. They gave me a bunch of clothes and a very detailed letter from a guy named Dr. Davidoff, telling me what I had to do. They never would've guessed that I would've turned on them. During the car ride, my face was pressed against the glass the whole time. I'd never seen a real city before, and I'd never seen so many people that weren't wearing lab coats. I was amazed. The city didn't look nearly as bad as the nurses led me to believe. And I felt like I was on top of the world when I reached the safe house. During the car ride, I was told that I was to follow Andrew's every command. Good thing when I arrived I learned he wasn't a very demanding person. My job, as Andrew said before, was to gain everyone's trust and lead you back to the lab. The trust part was mostly easy, because, believe it or not, you guys are my very first friends. The only one that refused to like me was Derek. The boy with the green eyes. That really disheartened me, because he was the main reason I came to the house. He was beautiful, he had a similar power than me, and he's the only one I know who might've known how it felt to live in a lab. We had so much in common, and I quickly fell love." She blushed a little, but didn't let it faze her. "Little did I know, that he already had a girlfriend. But when I was told that she left, I assumed it was because she broke up with him. So I was really confused as to why he didn't feel the same way about me. I always wondered why he couldn't remember me from the Edison Group lab. But we were just four, so I didn't have much to go on. Then Sarah came. I recognized her immediately as Chloe from the picture in the variable group file. I thought she came back to give Derek a hard time about the breakup, so I immediately disliked her. I actually enjoyed hiring those two goons to go kill her, because she was the one going between Derek and me. It was only until we were in that forest and Andrew told you his entire plan, did I realize what really happened to her and why she left. I immediately felt a little guilty. And when you all bolted for escape, I realized I didn't want to be left behind, to return to the lab. I wanted to go with my first friends and become a little more normal. But don't worry, I'm not so clueless that I'll slow you down, it's just the little things that I don't know how to do. While at the safe house, I saw a lot of TV and picked a few things up. Also, I make a pretty valuable asset. I know the Edison Group like the back of my hand, _and_ I'm a pretty good fighter. Please guys, I know I'm not your favorite person right now, but I _do_ want to get better. I want to be free of the Edison Group too." She pleaded in her soft British lilt. A moment of silence passed over the group.

I spoke up, "We'll give you a few days to stay with us and see how you do. That's when we'll decide whether or not you can stay." I still hated her guts, but I had to be fair, since we're touching on the delicate subject of being a supernatural. A few days, that's all she's got. If she does anything that lets on that she's a traitor and still works for the Edison Group, she's gone and out of our hair. Tori raised her hand.

"I've got a question." She announced.

"Yes?" Rachel asked.

"What did you mean when you said I was a test-tube baby?" Rachel's shoulders slumped a little.

"Andrew wasn't kidding when you said you were Simon's sister." She said. Tori stared at the ground for a while.

"But how? What do you mean? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE?" Tori's voice picked up in volume, anger slowly growing more evident on her face. Simon wasn't looking too good either. He was as pale as a sheet of paper and he looked about ready to throw up.

"I'm going to go find an ATM now." I turned to leave before Tori had time to let us all 'feel her wrath'.

"Wait! I'll go with you." I turned to see Derek walk up next to me. "There's no way your getting out of my sight any time soon. I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say that we promise to never agree to kick you out like that ever again." I'm sure everyone would've agreed if they weren't preoccupied at the moment. I hated to admit it, but that made me feel all mushy inside. But I prayed that I kept a straight face.

"Sure, okay." I said indifferently. I left the alley quickly, so I wouldn't start to cry in front of them. I walked quickly and quietly, with Derek close at my heels.


	21. Chapter 21

CPOV

Half an hour later, we finally found a suitable convenient store. And by suitable, I meant there were no security cameras anywhere. It was probably unnecessary, but I like to be thorough when making sure to minimize my chances of being tracked down by the Edison Group. Before I could reach the door, though, Derek held me back and led me to the side of the small building.

"Chloe." He said. "You can't ignore me forever. I haven't really had the chance to talk to you yet, so could you at least hear me out?" After putting a finger to my lips and pretending to think about it for a moment, I slumped my shoulders and gave in.

"Okay, sure. Tell me _everything_ you have to say." I said, but only with passive sarcasm, because his was the side of the story that I was actually waiting to hear from the whole time. He took a deep breath, and flicked his green eyes to the left for a few seconds. I could practically see the gears turning at hyper-speed for him to gather his thoughts together.

"Okay first of all, I never wanted you to leave. I know that's what you think, but you're wrong. You heard Andrew, right? That was proof right there! Over the course of a few days he's been trying to control me under that spell of his. But the more I resisted, the harder he fought. By the time you were at the door ready to leave, Andrew had already renewed the spell on me. So while I was concentrating on gathering enough control of myself to make everyone come to their senses, you were gone. I was too late. But even after you left, the spell didn't fade. I guess Andrew made it lock on me for a while, but I'm not a sorcerer so I don't know any details about how he did it. I'll have to look into it later. But anyway, I was a little brainwashed for a while and when Rachel suddenly joined us I was completely overwhelmed. I literally felt insane. But after a few weeks, the spell faded just a small amount, and my thoughts stopped constantly telling me that you were a useless person. I was able to regain a bit of my senses, but the spell wouldn't even let me leave to house. I was physically unable to chase after you. It was an extreme form of house arrest, and you _know_ how I hate being confined in small spaces." He stopped to take a deep breath.

"As for Rachel, she took advantage of all of that. She tried flirting with me, and telling me everyday to forget about you, but I don't she understood that I couldn't. You're my _mate_, Chloe." He looked at me intensely, his green eyes practically glowing in the dark.

"And there was no way I would forget you. Everyday, I waited for that spell to wear off, so I could escape and find you. But it never happened, until you came back to the safe house. Well, _Sarah_, I guess. Andrew noticed my sudden interest with you and probably thought I was too distracted to think about the real you anymore. After a few days you were with us, he lifted the spell. That was the same night you decided to _sneak out_. Just saying, a werewolf like me notices when that sort of thing happens and I knew what you were doing as soon as you got out of bed. I also left when I heard that Rachel was right behind you. I didn't know what she was gonna do to you, but I knew it wasn't good." He breathed again and ran his hand through his long-ish, dark hair in frustration.

"Okay, so this story is a lot longer than I thought."

"You think?" I shot back, even though I didn't notice how long we've been standing out here. I was too interested in his story.

"I really would continue, but the fact that it took us half an hour to find this store, if we take too long here, the others will start to worry and think we ditched them." I almost slapped myself. Duh. What was I thinking? Derek's story was interesting, but I should've at least remembered that when you're on the streets you have to move fast. He started talking again.

"But what I'm really trying to say from this story, is that even though you may not feel the same way about me after all this, you're still my mate, and I well… I'll always love you, no matter what happens. I promise you." He said nervously, but his eyes were wide, urging me to forgive him. My heart started to warm, and the warmth spread all the way to my face until I was blushing like mad. I started to smile dumbly and, before I knew it, I was kissing him. It's been _so_ long since we've been together, and this kiss felt just as thrilling as the first one we'd ever shared. After a few seconds I pulled away.

"Ditto," was all I could say, because I was so out of breath. But I didn't care. I started kissing him again. After a few minutes ticked by way too quickly, Derek pulled away, his eyebrow raised.

"I'm all for staying here and doing this forever, but I figured it'd be rude because the others are depending on us still." He reminded me with a huge, genuine smile that almost killed me. I was so happy by then, I just laughed.

"Fine, Captain Responsible. Lead the way." We finally entered the store and bought as much stuff as we could hold. Food, snacks, cheap backpacks, and other things we would need for life back on the streets. And sadly, my red hair had to go. So Derek and I chose brown hair dye this time; the color of caramel. I was actually exited to apply it, because the color didn't seem half bad.

When we were done shopping, we headed in the direction of the checkout counter. We paid cash, of course. I didn't pay any attention to the cashier, until he bagged all of our stuff and gave started handing it back.

"Here you go, guys." I froze at the voice. Why was it so familiar to me? I glanced up at him to get a better look, at the same time he did. Our eyes met, and time seemed to stop. I made a small gasp.

"Chloe? Is that you?" Nate Bozian asked, with his crimson red hair. I was hit with a wave of remembrance. I felt like he didn't belong here, that he belonged in a different world of mine. One where I knew nothing of supernaturals. I didn't say anything, hoping he'd see my red hair and green eyes and realize that he'd made a mistake. Only he didn't.

"Oh my god, that _is_ you. Wow, I haven't seen you in forever! Ever since you were sent to that crazy home. You remember me from school, right? Those were the _days_. Sorry you had to see me like this. This is my uncle's store and since it's Christmas break, I had to come all the way from Buffalo to work here. Totally a _dream_ job, right? Wrong." He rolled his eyes, completely disregarding that this was a one-sided conversation.

"You know what's weird? I actually saw you on the news. Yeah, it said that you were kidnapped by a…suspicious dude." It seemed like he just noticed that Derek was standing next to me. His eyes narrowed, as they darted back and forth between us. But he kept up the conversation.

"And you know what else it said on the news?" His eyes suddenly glittered with greed and happiness.

"That anyone who found you and turned you in would get a million dollar reward." Derek and I shared a panicked look, and I was sure he was thinking the same thing I was.

_Oh snap._

**THE END! Finally, after like two years I've finished my story. Looking back, I know there are a few holes in the plot, but I really do hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone for their reviews and support, I really can't tell you enough how much that means to me. Will there be a sequel to this? I don't know, but I'll definitely keep thinking about it. So wait and find out! Love, april03 **


	22. Epilogue

Rachel POV

I snuck into the phone booth and quickly closed the glass door behind me. I peeled off my leather jacket and wrapped it around my fist to punch the blinding light bulb. Glass rained down, and the entire booth filled with darkness. After shaking out the jacket and tying it around my waist, I turned to the phone and pressed on the grimy silver keys. Holding the blue, plastic phone to my ear, I heard the dial tone. Someone picked up.

"Hello, what project are you calling for?" said a lady's monotone voice.

"It's Rachel, experiment 2145. I'm calling to make a status report on the Genesis project. I know things didn't exactly go as planned, but tell Dr. Davidoff that I still have everything under control. The subjects still trust me enough to keep me with them. I will bring back these failed experiments as soon as possible."

"I sure do hope so, miss Rachel. Because if you fail to do this one job, your own life and freedom will be at risk," says the voice. I sighed and nodded.

"Yes, yes I know. But I won't fail. I have to get back to them now, or else they'll actually notice that I've left."

"Good luck, miss Rachel. And please try to report back on a regular basis."

"I don't know if I can do this as often as I have in the past. Without the stability of the safe house, I think the other experiments will find it strange to see me making so many phone calls."

"I honestly don't care about any of your excuses Rachel. I'm sure you'll figure something out." I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. I'll figure it out. Bye." I slammed the phone back into its place without waiting to hear her reply. I stepped out of the phone booth and back onto the street sidewalk. It was the middle of the night, and only a scarce amount of cars were whizzing by. The cool air gave me chill bumps on my bare arms, but I didn't mind.

I made it back to the alley where we were camped out. Tori and Simon were still bickering to each other, and I silently sat back down in the spot where I was sitting before I went to make the call. They didn't even notice that I left. Idiots. Chloe and Derek were still out "getting supplies" for everyone. Whatever that means. I just hope Chloe didn't forgive Derek yet. Having them be all chummy with each other again, would seriously give me a disadvantage with my plan. Tori's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Rachel! Don't you think that if I had a brother, that I'd want to _know_ about it?" Tori's face has been red for a while now, and she was still fuming. I flipped my dark brown hair, and gave her a "genuine" smile.

"Of course, Tori. That's definitely the type of information that a true friend should tell you," I said. Tori turned on Simon again.

"See? At least _she_ understands me!" Simon just shrugged and sat down on the ground.

"You know what, Tori, I'm done fighting with you today. Looks like we're gonna have continue this little conversation tomorrow," he said, leaning against the wall, and sleepily looking towards the dark and cloudy sky. Tori shrugged as if she didn't care.

"Fine! I was wasting by breath talking to you anyway," she said, pacing back and forth. Simon's eyes were only closed for about thirty seconds, when Derek came rushing in the alley, Chloe a few steps behind him. They both dropped their bags of stuff, and were breathing heavily as if they sprinted the entire way here.

"Get your stuff together guys. We gotta get moving," Derek said.

"Why, what happened?" I asked him with an innocent voice.

"We'll explain later, but I'll tell you that we're being targeted again," he said.

"Aren't we always?" Tori compained.

"Wait. Derek, what's this _really_ about?" Simon said, wanting an explanation. Chloe sighed.

"It's about me. An old friend of mine from school caught sight of me at the convenience store and he recognized me right away. Long story short, he now wants to turn me in for a one million dollar prize."

"A Million dollar prize? Ugh, there's always something chasing after us, isn't there?" Tori said.

"I'm really sorry, guys. I come back, and I immediately start causing problems." Chloe said, close to tears.

"Don't say that. This isn't your fault. All we have to do now is find a way to leave town, settle down somewhere else." Derek said, rubbing his temples.

"Hey guys, I know a place we can go." Everyone's eyes turned to me. "It's kinda far from here, but it's definitely our best choice right now."

"What place are you talking about?" Simon asked. They all waited patiently for my answer.

"Vancouver island."

**Author's note:**

**Hi everyone! It's been so long and I really missed this story, so I decided to make an epilogue. I thought this would be a great lead-up to a potential merge between these characters and the characters in Kelley Armstrong's Darkness Rising series. However, if you have not read the Darkness Rising series, then you probably won't get the ending to this chapter. Read on, everyone! :) April 03**


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